How Will Your Family Pay the Bills?
One of the things I’ve learned while getting my affairs in order is that some of the most important things we can do for our families are surprisingly ordinary.
Bank accounts, credit cards, and paying bills, for example.
Nothing very profound about any of them...until someone dies.
A good friend of mine died unexpectedly, and his wife suddenly discovered that she couldn’t write checks or continue using the credit cards she had been accustomed to using.
What made it especially bewildering was that the checks had her name printed on them. So did the credit cards, which even had account numbers different from her husband’s. She had every reason to believe they were hers to use.
They weren't.
Her son had to step in and help until new banking and credit card accounts could be established in her own name.
Imagine having to sort all of that out while grieving.
It was a painful reminder that while opening a bank account or getting a credit card may be easy, making certain your family will have access when you're no longer there takes a little more thought. Is your spouse or another family member actually a joint account holder or merely an authorized user? Do they have independent access to money and credit?
The devil, as they say, is in the details. Fortunately, these are details that can and should be addressed ahead of time.
When I worked through the Banking and Bills task in Legacy Essential Tasks, I found opportunities to make life easier for Kim someday—and for both of us today.
One example is a simple list of our recurring bills—utilities, credit cards, subscriptions, insurance and the rest—and how each one gets paid. Some are automatically charged to a credit card, others directly to a bank account, and a few require some other form of payment.
Completing the template wasn’t complicated, and having everything in one place makes my life easier today. More importantly, if Kim has to take over my bill-paying responsibilities, she’ll know what to do.
And that, I think, is the larger lesson.
Getting our affairs in order doesn't always require making profound decisions. Sometimes it means looking at the ordinary things we do almost without thinking and asking a simple question:
If I weren't here tomorrow, would the person I love have access to what they need?
A task that might take me a couple of hours today could take my family many times that long...while grieving.
I love Kim to the moon and back, so I’ve decided to complete every task I can ahead of time to ease the burden on her and my family during what will certainly be a difficult time.
Take a little time now.
To leave fewer problems later.
For the people we love.